Soda

Forest Gump's mom was wrong.

When we took family trips my parents only bought us one soda (Pepsi) and a bag of chips. All 4 of us had to share these items. With the chips, it was a free for all, just reach in and grab, but with the soda, there was a different method of distribution.

The bottle of soda, that might have been 16oz, went from oldest to youngest with the hierarchy of sips. First my sister Kim, then my brother Michael, then me, then Jimmy. Jimmy was the last to get a swig of soda. Jimmy often got stuck with the backwash. Backwash is something that you don't really become aware of till you get older. Poor Jimmy. At least I wasn't Jimmy I guess.

We would take these long car trips, all laid out in the back of my dad’s giant Oldsmobile. This car was special to my dad because it once belonged to his father. I remember us renting a car and driving up to Chicago to pick the 79 Oldsmobile up from my Gram. In order to make it legal or whatever, my dad had to pay his mother a dollar for the car. All in all, I would say that's a pretty good deal. For the longest time, I thought all cars only cost a dollar. Now that I am an adult, with two payments of my own, I would say I was way off!

Depending on your age, you probably did this too. You know, where the folks stuff all the kids in the backseat, maybe or maybe not with seat belts and you'd drive for hours to some place, get out, do or see something, get back in and drive home. Most of the time we went on these trips to see some landmark or we went to some middle of nowhere creek or river and went swimming. All the while, my old man sipped on his beer and smoked a Marlboro. The majority of our trips would cost a tank of gas, a 6 pack and some snacks. We didn't have "theme park money". We weren't "admission fee rich".

We made the best with what we had and saw everything we could within a 3 hour, tank of gas radius, from where we lived. All the while, taking turns sipping on warm Pepsi.

The anticipation of waiting for your turn on the plastic bottle was often difficult. Watching the other kids before you take their time, or at least it seemed like they were, savoring their extended swig of carbonated sugar. It's not that you were all that thirsty, you just didn't want them to drink all of it before you got one last turn. And maybe you thought you were more worthy than they were? Maybe you were thirstier than they were, but you really had no way of proving it. I was the middle boy. I got less than the boy ahead of me, but more than the kid behind me, but not nearly close to what the girl got.

Sometimes that's life isn't it?

Sometimes in life you have to wait a lot longer than you want for things to come your way. You have to bide your time, not complain and pay attention so you don't get skipped. Keeping your eyes on the prize like you would that bottle of warm soda.

When it's your turn, you need to grab it with both hands and make the best out of the swig you take. And if you only get one sip, so you better make it count.

#Whatsyourstory